Brent Wojahn/The OregonianPortland City Commissioner Randy Leonard has said the Station 21 boat house, on the Willamette River, would be an icon.

The Portland Fire Bureau wants to sell two westside lots initially purchased for fire stations to help pay for at least $1 million in unbudgeted costs tied to a significant eastside fire project along the Willamette River.

Fire officials need the money to pay for work at Fire Station 21, which will include a rebuilt station and a new boat house. The Fire Bureau has also has requested an additional $1.5 million from a 14-year-old bond measure to help pay for a boat house that Commissioner Randy Leonard says will be "a major icon."

The project already has received its fair share of scrutiny, with an architecture firm challenging a contract award and Commissioner Dan Saltzman repeatedly raising concerns that money from a 2010 bond measure should not be spent for a firefighter memorial at Station 21.

Fire officials are now asking the Portland City Council on Wednesday to declare two parcels "surplus property," enabling their sale on the open market. That money would be pumped back into the Station 21 project. The City Council is scheduled to approve the request with no discussion.

In 2010, voters approved a $72.4 million bond measure for fire vehicles, a radio system and a waterfront fire station. That bond specifically set aside $7.9 million for Station 21, which is located just north of the Hawthorne Bridge, underneath the Interstate 5 connection with the Marquam Bridge.

Whether that money was supposed to pay for the boat house and related work is in question.

According to a February report from the bond oversight committee, "The projected costs for Station 21 renovation did not originally take into consideration the costs for a new boathouse and modification of the dock. Efforts are underway to mitigate this."

In April, fire officials wrote that the pricetag included "capital construction, improvements and costs, which include 'providing a fire station and related facilities.' The related facilities include a boat house or boathouses that will shelter three emergency response watercraft," which they noted would be secured through seperate bidding process.

Leonard in June said costs for the boat house and station were linked.

"Every dollar we spend on this boat house is one more dollar that can't go to the fire station," Leonard told the City Council on June 6. He reiterated the point, saying, "Whatever we spend on it is another dollar that can't go to the actual construction of the fire station."

But Glen Eisner, logistics chief for the bureau, on Tuesday said that $7.9 million only includes station-related work and not in-water improvements.

He said full costs include an additional $205,000 for boat-house piles and the boat house itself, which fire officials in June pegged at $801,517, according to low-confidence estimates. Eisner said he doesn't know how much the boat house will cost.

According to an August report, the independent panel monitoring the project has concerns about the schedule and cost.

"Preliminary estimates for the current design indicate a very strained budget that may be adversely affected by unknown development costs or other unforeseen factors," they wrote.

To pay for the in-water work, fire officials want to sell their westside land.

"We have to get the money from somewhere because the boat house is going to cost more money," Eisner said.

Officials purchased .62 acres along Southwest Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway in 2001 for a new fire station. The site, just west of Shattuck Road and near the city border, cost $398,180 and today has a real market value of $563,470, according to county tax records. The city, in conjunction with Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, decided not to build a station there because of mutual response agreements.

In 2004, the bureau bought almost a half-acre at 10355 S.W. Barbur Boulevard for a replacement site for Station 18. But last year officials instead retrofitted Station 18, in Multnomah Village, to meet seismic standards. The city bought the property for $342,320 and it today has a real market value of $212,810, according to county tax records.

Both properties are zoned for general commercial use and were purchased using money from a $53.8 million fire bond measure in 1998. Fire officials also want an additional $1.5 million from the 1998 bond measure that hasn't been spent.

Eisner said officials don't know how much the properties will fetch. He also said there's no problem rolling over that money for Station 21, because it still would go toward a seismically sound station and essential fire services, as mandated by the 14-year-old bond measure.

Asked whether fire officials might later need westside land for stations down the road, Eisner said he couldn't predict the future.

"I don't know what's going to happen in the future," he said. "But right now, at this point in time, we have no intention of doing that."